Four North Texas cities are among the best large cities in the U.S. in which to start a business, according to a study by personal finance website WalletHub.
Leading the pack in North Texas is Fort Worth at No. 9 and Dallas at No. 14. Irving grabbed the No. 22 spot, Arlington ranked No. 23. Other cities in North Texas rounded out the rest of the list, with Garland ranked No. 58 and Plano achieving No. 61,
To compile the rankings, WalletHub compared 100 cities across three metrics:
- Business environment, including five-year business-survival rate, length of average work week and start-ups per capita
- Access to resources, such as financial accessibility, share of college-educated population and prevalence of investors
- Business costs, like office space affordability, labor costs, corporate taxes and cost of living.
All four cities scored in the top 20 for business environment, with Fort Worth at No. 4 and Dallas right behind it at No. 5. But the cities fared less well for business costs, with all four ranking in the upper third of cities.
“Americans are born with an entrepreneurial streak. It’s in our DNA,” the study’s authors wrote. “From the Gold Rush to the Industrial Revolution to the Internet Age, intense periods of innovation have molded our economy and sparked important societal advancements.”
But the study said the COVID-19 pandemic has caused myriad hardships for businesses. A recent WalletHub survey showed that two-thirds of small business owners said 2020 was their most difficult year ever.
WalletHub used data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, National Venture Capital Association and Yelp, among others to develop the rankings.
Presented by Dallas Morning News.
